- Former USPS worker indicted for allegedly discarding mail-in ballots
Source: United Press International
“A former U.S. Postal Service worker has been indicted forallegedly throwing away about 300 mail-in ballots earlier this year in Utah. The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed the indictment Tuesday as Damon Matai Seei, 34, of Payson, Utah, appeared for his arraignment at the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse in Salt Lake City. Seei was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday. He faces charges of unlawful secretion, destruction and delay of mail for allegedly throwing the ballots into a dumpster in a church parking lot. Justice Department officials alleged in a detention memo that Seei said in an interview that he threw away the ballots and other mail on June 3 to ‘lighten his workload.'” (09/22/26)
- UN: Pezeshkian calls out Trump and says country will fight “until our last breath”
Source: SFGate
“Iran’s president said Wednesday that his people have been ‘victims of terrorism’ by the United States, delivering a rare wartime speech at U.N. General Assembly a day after President Donald Trump said he ‘may annihilate’ the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war. The defiant speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian marked a striking instance of a foreign leader addressing the world body while their country is at war with the host nation. … ‘We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,’ Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. ‘Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.’ He added of the United States: ‘Yes they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.'” (09/23/26)
- Trio spotted emerging from manhole just steps from NYC hotel where Netanyahu set to stay
Source: New York Post
“A shady trio was spotted emerging from a manhole just steps from the hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to stay during the United Nations General Assembly, cops and sources said. The three unidentified men were spotted around 4:35 a.m. climbing out of the underground pit on Park Avenue near East 61st Street on the Upper East Side, authorities said. They fled in two separate vehicles that headed north on Park Avenue, police said. Netanyahu and other dignitaries are expected to stay at the Loews Regency New York down the block, sources said. It was not immediately clear whether the sewer incident is linked to his stay.” (09/23/26)
- South Sudan: Kiir dissolves government ahead of first national elections
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dissolved the country’s transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration as the country prepares for its first-ever national elections. The decree on Tuesday ended a power-sharing arrangement set up under a 2018 peace deal that halted years of civil war, and raised concerns that Kiir could now wield unchecked power. /// The decree came a day after the parliament approved changes to the National Elections Act that allowed Kiir to stay in power during the election period, while removing all vice presidents, who were appointed under the 2018 peace deal. The changes mean that South Sudan can move towards elections scheduled for December 22, without first completing a permanent constitution or census – two processes that were previously tied to the transition.” (09/23/26)
- Iranian regime offers to reopen Strait of Hormuz if US regime ends blockade
Source: New York Post
“Iran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a seven-day period if the US agrees to end its blockade and military pressure campaign, according to a report. The pitch was conveyed to US officials last week as both sides explored whether they can revive peace talks as their leaders converge on New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, Reuters said. … US officials have insisted that despite Iran’s efforts, they are getting oil through the Strait of Hormuz by using routes close to the shores of Oman, with Central Command claiming last week to have gotten 1 billion barrels through within the past several months. But passage through routes close to Iran’s shores has been seen as perilous because of concerns about mines and the theocratic regime carrying out drone attacks on the oil vessels.” (09/22/26)
- In Court Filing Defending Media Ban, White House Says Access Is a “Privilege”
Source: New York Times
“White House officials said in a court filing Tuesday that President Trump had determined that CNN, MS NOW and Politico had breached standards of conduct, leading to their expulsion from the grounds of the White House. The alleged violations, said the filing, include ‘trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.’ ‘Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right,’ reads the filing, which argues that Mr. Trump’s action against the three news outlets does not violate the First Amendment and aligns with a long history of presidents favoring some journalists over others. The filing, furthermore, claims that the White House’s denial of access is a preliminary matter and that the outlets have until Friday to contest the decision.” (09/23/26)
- Ukraine: Russian attacks injure seven
Source: News 10 ABC
“Russia launched strikes at businesses and storage facilities in Ukraine overnight, injuring seven people across the country, according to local authorities. The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its forces overnight carried out ‘group strikes’ using drones on Ukraine’s ‘military-industrial and energy sector facilities, logistics centers and maritime vessels.’ In Kyiv and the surrounding region, a storage facility and an industrial facility used for storing and making drones were hit, the ministry said.” (09/23/26)
https://www.news10.com/news/ap-russian-attacks-injure-7-across-ukraine-and-damage-structures/
- ShinyHunters hackers say they breached FBI
Source: CNBC
“The digital extortion group known as ‘ShinyHunters’ said on Tuesday that it had breached the Federal Bureau of Investigation and stolen [sic] data on a huge number of current and former FBI employees. The bureau did not respond to repeated messages seeking comment on Tuesday. In a statement posted to its dark-web site and during an online chat with Reuters, ShinyHunters said it had targeted the FBI in response to a May 2026 agency announcement that detailed ShinyHunters’ methods and advised targets not to pay. It said it had stolen [sic] data ‘on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job.’” (09/22/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/22/shinyhunters-hack-fbi-stole-data.html
- US regime to build two military bases in Greenland under new deal with Danish regime
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The US, Denmark and Greenland have signed a defence deal that allows Washington to build two new military bases in the Arctic territory, while reaffirming Copenhagen’s sovereignty over it. Before a signing ceremony at the UN General Assembly in New York, US President Donald Trump said ‘we will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations’. … The deal amends and updates a 1951 defence agreement between Denmark and the US.” (09/22/26)
- Senile reality TV actor yells at UN
Source: KOMO News
“President Donald Trump used his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Tuesday to defend the nearly seven-month U.S. war with Iran, claim Tehran’s regional power has been broken, and raise the prospect of either a negotiated agreement or further escalation. … Trump also claimed credit for settling eight conflicts. … He listed Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the war in Gaza, which he said included the return of all hostages. Trump also said the U.S. had reached an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that would expand America’s Arctic security role.” (09/22/260
- Clancy’s attorney continues weird war on trial by jury
Source: United Press International
“The lawyer for Lindsay Clancy, who was charged in the deaths of her three children, has asked the judge in the case to investigate the holdout juror, Michael P. Desronvil, who refused to acquit Clancy, which led to a mistrial. The lawyer, Kevin Reddington, submitted the request Friday to Judge William Sullivan to get the juror’s mobile phone metadata from when he was deliberating the case. It also requests the court preserve the original questionnaires, jury notes and the court’s responses. … Also on Monday, Reddington and co-counsel Martin Weinberg filed a motion to dismiss the case against Clancy on double jeopardy grounds. They argued that the circumstances of the trial prevent the prosecution from trying her again.” (09/22/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/09/22/lindsay-clancy-holdout-juror-motion/7401790087713/
- Developing El Niño becomes strongest on record weeks before expected peak
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The developing El Niño climate phenomenon is now the strongest on record, according to scientists monitoring Pacific Ocean temperatures. Daily sea surface temperatures in a key region of the central-eastern Pacific were 3.05C above average on 19 September – exceeding the previous record of 3.02C set during the very strong El Niño of 2015. Some longer-term measures of El Niño have not yet hit record levels but this is likely to change, with the peak not expected until later this year. El Niño can cause major shifts in weather patterns around the world, with the Met Office saying many of the expected impacts are already being felt.” (09/22/26)
- Republican Senator Calls for Probe Into Trump Family’s Business Dealings
Source: US News & World Report
“Senator John Curtis wrote a letter to a Senate panel to call for an investigation into businesses owned by Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and payments by a Russian oligarch for his wedding celebrations in the Bahamas this year. Congressional Democrats launched an investigation last week into the wedding payments. The open letter marks the second time in two days that prominent Republicans have broken with the increasingly unpopular president, six weeks from midterm elections in which his party is defending thin majorities in the US Congress. Republicans Ashley Hinson and Mike Rogers, who are both running for Senate, on Monday called for a swift end to the Iran war, trying to distance themselves from the unpopular conflict that has pushed energy prices higher and driven up the cost of living, Americans’ top concern heading into the midterms.” (09/22/26)
- Lithuania ready to “fight back” but has evacuation plans in face of Russia threats
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Lithuania’s prime minister has told the BBC his country has made evacuation plans in the face of threats from Russia, but added they ‘will not surrender’ if attacked. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius told Newsnight that Lithuanians feel ‘constantly threatened’ by Russia, in part because of drones entering the nation’s airspace. He told Newsnight if his country was attacked, ‘we will fight back… we will engage’. But he said there were plans for ‘a variety of scenarios’ and used an example of getting elderly citizens out of cities ‘smoothly’ and avoiding traffic jams. Lithuania, a Nato member, shares a land border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. NATO is thought to have several thousand troops stationed in the Baltic state, including US and German forces.” (09/22/26)
- Lukashenko says Belarus doesn’t have enough potash for Trump
Source: Politico
“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has admitted his country doesn’t have enough potash to satisfy U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands for the critical fertilizer. ‘Everyone keeps saying: Ah, potash! Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,’ Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Vladimir Orlovsky, head of the Belarusian state customs authority. That same day, Trump said his country was ‘working on a deal’ to purchase Belarusian potash fertilizer, as it’s ‘substantially’ cheaper than Canada’s offering. Washington and Ottawa are embroiled in an escalating trade dispute. … Canada is the world’s largest potash producer, producing 15 million metric tons annually, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Belarus produces around 6 million metric tons — only slightly more than annual U.S. import volumes of 5.6 million metric tons.” (09/22/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/belarus-alexander-lukashenko-potash-supply-us-donald-trump/
- Netanyahu says he will ‘tell the truth’ about Zohran Mamdani during UN speech
Source: Fox News
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he will ‘tell the truth’ about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani when he speaks at the U.N. General Assembly later this week. ‘Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani. Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews,’ Netanyahu said in a video posted to X. ‘I’m coming to the U.N. I am going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’m going to tell you the truth about you.’ Mamdani previously has called Netanyahu ‘a war criminal’ and ‘architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people’. When asked by a reporter in July about ‘What do you think that these people who are frustrated with Netanyahu should do when he arrives in New York City for the United Nations meeting,'” (09/22/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/iran-war-strait-hormuz-trump-talks-un-general-assembly-09-22-26
- MS: Grand Jury Finds Insufficient Evidence of Crime in Death of Nolan Wells
Source: New York Times
“A grand jury in Mississippi has concluded that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges in the case of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old who was found dead two days after a boat outing with friends on July 4. The grand jury in Jackson County, Miss., found unanimously that the circumstances and condition of Mr. Wells’s body were ‘consistent with drowning,’ according to a copy of its report posted on social media on Monday by the county district attorney’s office. It also said there was no credible evidence of criminal conduct by the people who traveled with him to an island off the Mississippi coast that day. … The report noted, however, that there is no statute of limitations in Mississippi for homicide cases, and that if any evidence emerges suggesting that the death of Mr. Wells was not accidental, it should be referred to the grand jury for consideration.” (09/2/260
- As Dems gear up for White House fight, AOC issues thinly veiled threat to Kamala Harris
Source: New York Post
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a thinly veiled warning to the Democratic establishment, making clear she wouldn’t step aside for any other potential presidential candidates in 2028 — including Kamala Harris. ‘I don’t think that my decisions would come down to deference,’ she told The New York Times when asked which factors would weigh on her decision about whether to launch a White House bid. The 36-year-old New York Democrat (the youngest woman ever [s]elected to Congress) has yet to announce a presidential campaign, but her comments make clear she isn’t waiting for a nod from Democratic leaders or a potential primary rival before deciding her own political future.” (09/22/26)
- South Korea: Court reduces former first lady’s sentence over luxury gifts and favors
Source: ABC News
“A South Korean appeals court on Tuesday reduced the prison sentence of the wife of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol from seven to five years, following her initial conviction of accepting luxury gifts from businesspeople and others seeking political and business favors. The Seoul High Court threw out some of the corruption charges against Kim Keon Hee, including one involving a luxury watch from businessman Seo Seong-bin who allegedly sought government support for his robotic dogs business. In June, the Seoul Central District Court found Kim guilty of accepting the watch, but the high court on Tuesday said the prosecutors had not sufficiently proved that the watch was provided in exchange for business favors. The court upheld most of her other convictions.” (09/22/26)
- Vance Fraud Task Force Condemned as “Smokescreen” for Booting 700,000 More People Off Healthcare
Source: Common Dreams
“The Trump administration is planning to boot more than 700,000 people from their Affordable Care Act coverage as part of a purported initiative to root out fraud in the program—an effort that campaigners said is nothing more than a pretext to kick more people off healthcare. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the White House’s ‘Task Force to Eliminate Fraud’, announced the planned ACA purge during a press conference on Tuesday alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, whose agency has touted a right-wing think tank’s dubious claim that millions of ACA enrollees are on the program improperly. Vance insisted during Tuesday’s press conference that the administration is putting itself ‘under an extraordinary burden of proof’ to ensure its mass removal doesn’t impact people who are eligible for ACA coverage, but advocates were not convinced.” (09/22/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/jd-vance-healthcare-task-force
- Cape Girardeau County Has Voted No on Zoning Twice
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Patrick Tuohey“Cape Girardeau County is the only first-class, non-charter county in Missouri without countywide planning and zoning. That fact, reported recently by Rick Fahr in the Southeast Missourian, is often cast as a deficiency waiting to be corrected. It shouldn’t be. It’s the result of voters being asked directly, more than once, and saying no both times.” (09/22/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/cape-girardeau-county-has-voted-no-on-zoning-twice/
- The autocrats may seem immovable. But their time is passing.
Source: Washington Post
by David Ignatius“We seem to be living in the age of the autocrats, where Presidents Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin bestride the globe. The gathering this week of the U.N. General Assembly in New York seems a mere sideshow to the real power game at the Trump-Xi summit. But appearances can be deceptive: This may be the twilight of the dictators’ era, not the dawn.” (09/22/26)
- If You Want to Win Working-Class Votes, Run On Working-Class Issues
Source: In These Times
by Mindy Isser“If the Left is serious about winning elections across the country, working-class voters must be at the center of this project. And yet, too many campaigns don’t make these voters’ priorities their focus. In a new report from The Center for Working Class Politics (where I am a research associate), scholars Joan Williams and Jared Abbot analyze the results of a recent Class Gaps Poll, which compares the political attitudes of working-class people with those of liberal upper-middle-class voters, who, like it or not, have steered the modern progressive movement and its agenda.” (09/22/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/working-class-politics-left-election-midterms-college
- The President’s Ban on Journalists Is Disgraceful and Illegal
Source: Cato Institute
by Dan Greenberg“The reasons the Trump White House has given in the past for its attempts to pick and choose which journalists are allowed to cover it have varied, but all of them have one thing in common: they cannot be reconciled with the law. Jim Acosta’s press pass was revoked because he continued to ask questions and refused to yield his microphone to another journalist. Brian Karem’s press pass was revoked essentially because he made remarks that were understood as rude and confrontational. The Associated Press was excluded because it used the label ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ rather than ‘Gulf of America.’ But these justifications for exclusion—like the more recent White House complaints about negative news coverage—fail, because they are empty and unworkable under the law.” (09/22/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/presidents-ban-journalists-disgraceful-illegal
- Trump’s tariffs are a political loser
Source: Washington Post
by Scott Lincicome“In their words and deeds, American politicians of both parties have confirmed what the polls show: Trump’s ‘populist’ tariffs are historically unpopular. Several lessons emerge. First, after winning on an affordability message in 2024, Trump’s early-term decision to repeatedly embrace a policy that, in both design and result, raises domestic prices was an epic political blunder. Voters now widely distrust Republicans’ handling of the economy. And defending tariffs by deriding inflation-weary Americans’ desire to have cheap and abundant goods added literal insult to injury. Second, voters’ hostility toward tariffs today reflects an important policy reality: Things that might sound good in a theoretical vacuum are often rejected when their real and predictable trade-offs become apparent.” (09/22/26)
- When Everything Becomes a National Security Threat
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead“Given the judiciary’s longstanding reluctance to second-guess presidential power grabs involving national security, the national-security state has repeatedly used that deference to expand both its own reach and the power of the presidency. Call something a matter of national security and the normal rules start disappearing: Courts defer. Congress retreats. Secrecy expands. Executive power grows. ‘National security’ has been used as the justification for surveillance, secret courts, classification, warrantless spying, military intervention, watchlists, detention, border searches, censorship claims and the concealment of government misconduct. That game is hardly new. Nixon played it. Bush played it. Obama played it. Biden played it. Trump may not have invented the national-security dodge, but he has taken it to increasingly absurd extremes.” (09/22/26)
- Trump to MBS: We’re Not Your Yemen Yes-Men This Time
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“If Iran’s near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a knife to international oil shipping’s throat, Houthi control of the Bab el-Mandeb is a firm grip on international oil shipping’s testicles. US president Donald Trump, it seems, would rather the Houthis didn’t squeeze. Or maybe he’s just trying to conserve limited military resources for continued war with Iran. Either way, when Saudi terror kingpin … er, Crown Prince … Mohammed bin Salman requested a new round of US airstrikes, the answer was ‘no, not this time.’ And either way, that’s the right answer.” (09/22/26)
- Huey Long’s Populism Is Back In Fashion
Source: The Daily Economy
by Marcus M Witcher“JD Vance’s admiration for Huey Long reveals how readily today’s populist right embraces the high spending and economic control it once condemned on the left.” (09/22/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/huey-longs-populism-is-back-in-fashion/
- No, Banning Diesel Exports Won’t Lower Gas Prices
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm“It is one of those bad ideas that seem compelling at first: If you’re running low on an essential item, why sell what little you have? And few items are more essential to a modern economy than diesel fuel. It powers trucks, trains, and boats, all of which are vital to moving goods from place to place. As diesel gets more expensive—it has never been more expensive than it is right now, in nominal terms—everything that must travel via truck, train, or boat gets more expensive too. This is no fun for anyone. Some Republicans think they have hit upon an easy solution: stop exporting diesel. … So far, the White House has not taken action. That’s good. Despite how it might seem, a ban on diesel exports would likely worsen an already bad situation by driving diesel prices higher.” (09/22/26)
https://reason.com/2026/09/22/no-banning-diesel-exports-wont-lower-gas-prices/
- The ugly truth about Gaza reporting that most media ignore
Source: New York Post
by staff“A bombshell interview with acclaimed Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza shows why you can’t trust almost any reporting on Hamas, Israel’s war in Gaza, or the basic facts of life under the terror group. Azaiza has been feted by topline news outlets from CNN to CBS to The Guardian, named GQ’s 2023 Middle East Man of the Year, and cheered by the likes of YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). But in an hours-long taped interview, he’s now opted to tell truths he’d been hiding. He admits that he suppressed videos of Palestinian war crimes against Israeli hostages: During Hamas’ triumphal march of its kidnapees, ‘people got out, watched, beat them, hit them, and I followed them and filmed. But I did not publish those videos.’ He met with then-Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh but asked that all evidence of it be deleted.” (09/22/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/09/22/opinion/the-ugly-truth-about-gaza-reporting-that-most-media-ignore/
- The K-Shaped Economy Is Not in Your Imagination
Source: Cobden Centre
by Michael Matulef“Open the financial pages and a strange creature stares back at you. The S&P 500 has climbed over 90 percent in three years. The top 10 percent of earners now account for nearly half of all consumer spending. Moody’s, Morgan Stanley, and the New York Fed agree on the shape of the thing: the economy has split in two. Asset-holders ride the upper arm of the ‘K’ upward while wage earners slide down the lower one, watching groceries, rent, and insurance devour paychecks that no longer stretch. The commentators have responded the way they respond to everything: with a label. Call it ‘K-shaped’ often enough in the news and the naming starts to feel like an explanation. It is not. … The label tells us what is happening. It tells us nothing about why.” (09/22/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/09/the-k-shaped-economy-is-not-in-your-imagination/
- Immigration Controls Destroy American Liberty and Privacy
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“It’s tempting to convince oneself that America’s system of immigration controls adversely affects only foreigners. Not so. It also destroys the rights and freedoms of the American people, including economic liberty, freedom of association, liberty of contract, privacy, and private ownership of property. Moreover, at the risk of belaboring the obvious, a brutal nationwide police state, including massive surveillance, is the opposite of a free society.” (09/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/09/22/immigration-controls-destroy-american-liberty-and-privacy/
- A welcome thaw in an icy Arctic issue
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“The United States, Denmark, and the semiautonomous Danish territory of Greenland are poised to sign a new deal on the Arctic island’s future. In an announcement on Friday, President Donald Trump lauded the step as ‘a dream come true for the United States of America’. The response from other leaders has been low-key, but positive, with an apparent consensus that it’s time to move on from the instability caused by U.S. threats of a forcible takeover of Greenland. In addition, this development shows that behind-the-scenes diplomacy can still be effective, even in an atmosphere of decreasing trust among allies. ‘A win for quiet professionalism’ that has also made the Arctic ‘a safer place for America and its allies’, is how The Economist describes this news.” (09/21/26)
- The Neo-Median Voter Model
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“The Median Voter Model says that democratic competition impels politicians to offer whatever policies maximally satisfy the median voter. Actual democracies have never met its highly restrictive assumptions: There is more than one election, fought over more than one issue, and in any case, nothing forces politicians to fulfill their campaign promises. Yet for decades, this Median Voter Model has been extremely useful — much more useful than these restrictive assumptions would have you believe. … But U.S. politics has grown so weird during the last decade that I suspect a revision to the Median Voter Model is in order. I dub this the Neo-Median Voter Model. It works roughly like this …” (09/22/26)
- A State’s Right to Secede
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“‘If the states do not have the right to secede, then they have no rights at all.’ — Dr. Walter Williams … Dr. Williams is one of the few men I’ve ever read who understood the American Constitution. That marvelous document has been so warped all through U.S. history that very few Americans truly understand what our Founders did in the Constitution. It isn’t going to change any time soon, and Dr. Williams’ statement is probably shocking to many. Let’s look at it. The Declaration of Independence created 13 ‘free and independent states’; it did not create the United States of America (read it). Those states (colonies under England) jealously guarded their individual colonial rights and privileges. When they declared independence, leading minds convinced most colonists that there were certain matters (like fighting a war) that were better accomplished collectively than individually.” (09/22/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/09/22/a-states-right-to-secede-n2683334
- Everything You Know About Political Violence Is Probably Wrong
Source: Wired
by Robert A Pape“Public disagreement about whether political violence is rising and who is responsible for it stems not from ideology alone but from competing definitions about what should be counted.” (09/22/26)
- The Real Danger Of AI: It Is Run By Evil Warmongers
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The biggest AI threat isn’t artificial superintelligence wiping out humanity in a fit of mechanical vengeance like some digital Old Testament God, it’s the same oligarchs and empire managers as usual inflicting the same evils and abuses as usual upon their fellow man. We’re already presently watching the empire building AI into its killing machines and causing all kinds of horrifying problems while these technologies become more and more complex and unpredictable. CNN reports that US military AI ‘almost started a war’ with China when it hallucinated intelligence showing a Chinese ship transporting nuclear weapon components to Iran; US military planes were apparently already in the air preparing to attack the vessel before human intelligence picked up on the error.” (09/22/26)
- Machiavelli’s Contested Legacy
Source: Law & Liberty
by Brian A Smith“Karl Marx and Niccolò Machiavelli share the distinction of being among the few major thinkers in the English language whose names have become instantly recognizable ‘isms.’ But where most educated Westerners could probably offer up some kind of definition for what Marx’s ideas mean, ‘Machiavellianism’ serves more as a floating signifier for amoral canniness in political or social life. To be a Marxist implies at least some practical commitments to equality, and perhaps to revolution, but most people, even those with a strong memory of The Prince or Discourses on Livy, would probably struggle to define what being a Machiavellian really means for one’s politics.” (09/22/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/machiavellis-contested-legacy/
- Home Is Where the Gold Is
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“For decades, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been seen by the world’s governments as a safe haven for a portion of their gold deposits. But under the mercurial reign of President Donald Trump, and in a general atmosphere of geopolitical turbulence, that is quickly changing. Several European countries have already relocated—or are under pressure to relocate—their gold from New York to domestic vaults, prompted by concerns about the stability of the regulatory environment under Trump. According to the World Gold Council, 59% of the world’s central banks now prefer to keep their gold at home, compared to 41% just two years ago.” (09/22/26)
- Cheap Groceries, Costly Consequences: City-Run Stores Ignore Second-Order Effects
Source: The Daily Economy
by Logan Tantibanchachai“New York’s city-run stores promise cheaper groceries, but their discounts merely transfer costs. Taxpayers foot the bill, while bodegas and grocers lose customers.” (09/22/26)
- How Bill Gates’s Billions Shape US Medical Research
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Paul Thacker“On the eve of Gates’[s] private testimony with Congress scheduled for tomorrow, a trove of federal whistleblower documents provided to RealClearInvestigations is renewing questions about how Gates money has bought what critics complain is an untoward influence on government health policy. For almost a quarter of a century, his main vehicle of power, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), allowing Gates to shape the direction of the country’s health strategy in ways that have benefitted his own priorities and pet causes while polishing his image as a benevolent global do-gooder.” (09/22/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-bill-gates-billions-shape-us-medical-research/
- From Holdout to Hunted: Kevin Reddington Seeks Phone Records & Interview with Holdout Clancy Juror
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Defense attorney Kevin Reddington appears to be moving from zealous advocacy to virtual stalking in the Lindsay Clancy case. Reddington is seeking phone records, surveillance, and criminal records of Michael Desronvil, the now-identified juror who held out in the 11-1 hung jury decision. Reddington’s demand follows his unprofessional attack on the juror on the courthouse steps after the trial. In his filing, Kevin Reddington seeks to question Desronvil after reviewing his records to see whether he lied on his juror questionnaire, violated court rules by using his cellphone in the jury room, and failed to pay attention during jury deliberations. The demand is highly unusual. Occasionally, defense counsel will raise later-discovered information on possible juror misconduct to challenge a criminal conviction.” [editor’s note: Amazing how a man of honor can be defiled and hunted for doing his proper job as a juror in a murder trial – SAT] (09/22/26)
- How War Propaganda Justifies Conscription into Unjust Wars
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya“Conscription is a form of indentured servitude. Murray Rothbard argued that everyone has a natural right to self-defense, but ‘we have no moral right to use coercion—the bayonet or the revolver—to force someone else to defend us.’ Rothbard argued that if we want men to stand in our defense, ‘the way to induce people to volunteer for hazardous jobs is to pay them extra as compensation.’ And yet, instead of offering a wage that would reward men who sign up willingly, governments rely on force to press conscripts into service.” (09/22/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-war-propaganda-justifies-conscription-unjust-wars
- We need more of the hopeful sci-fi that ‘Star Trek’ gave us 60 years ago
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Rod Roddenberry“A few years ago, I received a call I’ll never forget. Jeanette Epps, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, Zoomed into my living room from 250 miles above Earth. During our conversation, she told me that one of the reasons she chose her career was a television show my father created in 1966. She wasn’t alone. I’ve heard versions of that same story from countless people over the years. Engineers. Scientists. Astronauts. People who saw possibility on a television screen before they ever saw it in the real world. … I don’t think that was because of the ships, the gadgets or the aliens. It was because, underneath all of it, was a profoundly human belief that we are capable of becoming something better.” (09/22/26)
- Is Europe Restraining Israel – or Merely Protecting the Two-State Illusion?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud“On September 8, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK announced their intention to introduce national restrictions, support European restrictions, or actively consider measures against trade in goods with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Undeniably, the announcement represents a significant political and legal precedent. Dismissing it outright would be impulsive, particularly considering the participation of governments such as those of Canada and the UK, which have historically provided Israel with extensive political and diplomatic support. Yet celebrating the announcement as an earth-shattering event without examining its context, timing and potential effectiveness would be equally rash. Worse, it could contribute to weakening the public pressure that finally compelled Western governments to take even these limited steps.” (09/22/26)
- The Rule of Law or the Rule of Lawyers?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Adam Tomkins“David Dyzenhaus worries that postliberalism may bleed over into Britain.” (09/22/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-rule-of-law-or-the-rule-of-lawyers/
- Trump and Xi meet on a ‘rotting’ diplomatic foundation
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jake Werner“The war in Iran, a murky trade truce, and a hawkish foreign policy establishment that is just itching for a fight makes for uncertain dynamics at today’s summit.” (09/22/26)
- The Urgency of Recognizing the Ansar Allah Government in Yemen
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies“The Trump administration came perilously close to launching another bombing campaign against Yemen this weekend. According to a September 20 New York Times report, US commanders had approved their targets, American troops were loading bombs onto warplanes, and an attack on Yemen’s Ansar Allah forces was about to begin when President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course. For two weeks, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had been pleading with Trump to intervene as Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces swept through Saudi-backed forces’ positions along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Trump initially resisted, but after another urgent call from the Saudi crown prince, he instructed the Pentagon to prepare for airstrikes. By Sunday, he had changed his mind again, at least temporarily.” (09/22/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-ai-nuclear-weapons
- Blowback at the Bab el-Mandeb: How State Planning Lost the Red Sea
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat“The United Arab Emirates spent eight years and a fortune trying to own a stretch of water. It bought proxies, seized islands, built runways and naval bases along both banks of the Bab el-Mandeb, and sold the whole program to Washington as the wall that would keep Iran out of the Red Sea. In September the wall fell, and the water passed to Iran’s closest ally. The chokepoint that a decade of state planning was meant to secure is now held by the Houthis, allied with Tehran. There is no cleaner illustration of what happens when a government sets out to engineer a region from above.” (09/22/26)
- A clean energy source is buried under the desert, but it takes water to use it
Source: Grist
by Austin Corona“Geothermal companies face tough tradeoffs over water as they aim to power the data center buildout in Western states.” (09/22/26)
https://grist.org/energy/geothermal-clean-energy-source-water-use/
- Why Riyadh Won’t Be Forced Into Israel’s Arms
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov“The apparent hope is that Saudi Arabia will suffer enough to abandon its diversification strategy and join the Abraham Accords, bending the knee to the U.S. and Israel. But the neocons, whether they know it or not, face a big problem: Even before Trump rejected MbS’s request to bomb the Houthis, Washington had shown it can’t be trusted as a Saudi partner. Trump’s refusal to help MbS out of the Yemeni jam serves to further highlight that fact, making Riyadh less likely to tighten its security relations with the U.S. and its client Israel.” (09/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-riyadh-wont-be-forced-into-israels-arms/
- The Value of Your College Degree Is Collapsing Before Your Eyes
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder“Schools are desperately innovating to ward off destruction.” (09/21/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/21/value-college-degree-collapsing/
- Pity the Poor American Doctor
Source: Pierre Lemieux
by Pierre Lemieux“Pity the poor medical provider who, barely out of the Silk Road camel transport or Bell-era telephone communications, has to deal with patients (more properly called ‘customers’ in economics) who would rather use time-saving and efficient electronic communications! This medical provider will often use government regulation as an excuse and claim that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) forbids email communications with patients, while establishing a patient portal is too expensive. In reality, HIPAA bans neither encrypted nor unencrypted email.” (09/21/26)
https://pierrelemieux.substack.com/p/pity-the-poor-american-doctor
- AI and the Same Old Politicized Hysteria
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson“The midterm elections are six weeks away. Suddenly, a debate has erupted over the existential dangers of artificial intelligence. Jacob Coxon, a little-known Silicon Valley researcher who worked at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned and went public with a dire warning: AI now threatens the future of the world. Shortly beforehand, news broke of the Hugging Face episode, in which OpenAI’s advanced AI ‘agents’ autonomously hacked another company’s computers. Almost on cue, Democrats seized on the alarm as a new cause célèbre, accusing Donald Trump and the MAGA movement of recklessly courting Armageddon. The Left demanded international treaties, ignoring the dismal record of such globalist projects: the League of Nations, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, the Washington Naval Treaty, the Versailles Treaty, the Munich Agreement, the Paris Climate Accord, and the UN Human Rights Council.” (09/22/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/09/22/ai-and-the-same-old-politicized-hysteria/
- No Justice for Heehaw. Why Police Won’t be Held to Account For Donkey’s Death.
Source: Cato Institute
by Mike Fox“In the early morning hours of August 30, a baby petting zoo donkey named Heehaw was gunned down by a Cedartown, Georgia police officer Trenton Garner in his own pasture. Reports suggest that Cedartown officers were assisting Polk County Police with locating a missing person. The officers had entered his owner’s property without ‘permission or warning.’ When the baby donkey approached them in the dark, braying — as donkeys tend to do — an officer opened fire. HeeHaw’s owner, Hannah Israel, has vowed legal action. While such a high-profile case may induce the city to settle, absent a settlement offer, the doctrine of qualified immunity largely puts justice out of reach. But it wasn’t supposed to be this way. In 1982, contrary to congressional command, the Supreme Court inserted the words ‘“clearly established’ into the text of Section 1983 in the Civil Rights Act of 1871.” (09/21/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/no-justice-heehaw-why-police-wont-be-held-account-donkeys-death
- Cato Weekly Podcast, 09/22/26
Source: Cato Institute
“How Hard Is It to Rig an American Election?” (09/22/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-weekly-podcast/how-hard-it-rig-american-election
- Capital Record, episode 323
Source: National Review
“No One is a Libertarian Now.” (09/22/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/no-one-is-a-libertarian-now/
- So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, episode 283
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Robby Soave on Trump’s press ban, Macklemore, and free speech culture wars.” (09/22/26)
- The Fifth Column, episode 576
Source: The Fifth Column
“CNN senior contributor and Republican strategist Scott Jennings joins to defend Trump, explain the new GOP, and litigate tariffs, Greenland, Tucker, Mitch McConnell, and the indignities of cable news.” (09/22/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-loyal-republican-w-scott-jennings
- Charles Goyette on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Charles Goyette returns to the show to talk about the terrible, unsustainable and outright destructive economic situation the US government has gotten us in and the many ways the Trump administration is making everything even worse.” (09/22/26)
- TAC Right Now, 09/22/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Andrew Day and Luke Nicastro talk to regular contributor Eldar Mamedov about his conversations with Iranian officials, the Saudi-Houthi war, and why Europe is on the diplomatic sidelines.” (09/22/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 09/22/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Dark Clouds Hover Over Republican November Senate Hopes.” (09/22/26)
- Is all this AI doomsaying distracting us from the real threat?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
“Our hosts try to understand why Artificial Intel CEOs are so eager to push the ‘end of humanity’ narrative.” (09/22/26)
- How Will History Remember Anthony Fauci?
Source: Reason
“Fauci’s diary reveals a self-obsessed career bureaucrat who refused to consider the possibility that his research contributed to origin of COVID-19.” (09/22/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/09/22/how-will-history-remember-anthony-fauci/
- Trump Watch, 09/22/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Destroying Iran and Maintaining Socialist Tyranny in Venezuela.” (09/22/26)
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 09/22/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“American Civics Education Tests Trivia, Not Understanding with Brian Kisida.” (09/22/26)
- Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, 09/22/26
Source: Politico
“The GOP senator breaking with Trump on vaccines and AI (with Sen. Bill Cassidy).” (09/22/26)
- Rising, 09/22/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar pondering what it would take to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.” (09/22/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/6089756-rising-september-22-2026/
- The Daily, 09/22/26
Source: New York Times
“Trump Banned the Media. This Time, the Media Struck Back.” (09/22/26)
- Advisory Opinions, 09/22/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Are Marijuana Contracts Legal in Federal Court?” (09/22/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/are-marijuana-contracts-legal-in-federal-court/
- Brian McGlinchey on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Brian McGlinchey on the Deadliness of Washington’s Sanction Regime.” (09/22/26)
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 09/22/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly conversation with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. If you’re serious about picking your way through the fog of deception to understand the world around us, Eric always has an informed take.” (09/22/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/22/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Press Ban Backfires as Aides Leak Humiliating Motive Behind It.” (09/22/26)
- Questions For Corbett, 09/22/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“It’s the most common question confronting any would-be researcher of conspiracy reality: Who’s at the top of the pyramid?” (09/22/26)
- Pod Save America, episode 1216
Source: Crooked Media
“Trump Bans Crooked Media.” (09/22/26)
https://audioboom.com/posts/8955383-trump-bans-crooked-media